Washington (CNN) - Justice Clarence Thomas reflected on his long journey from childhood poverty to service on the highest court in the land, telling a conservative audience Thursday, "I have this wonderful opportunity to go to work everyday– I didn't always feel that way."

A nostalgic and "grateful" Thomas sought to assure fellow lawyers and judges he is not the person longtime critics have tried to portray him: that he remains an angry, frustrated jurist, especially over the treatment he received during his bitter 1991 confirmation. But he admitted the road to his current contentment has not been easy.FULL POST

(CNN) – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the high court's only African American jurist, opened up recently about his thoughts on race and the White House.

Asked if he ever expected to see an African American president in his lifetime, the conservative justice said he always knew "it would have to be a black president who was approved by the elites and the media, because anybody that they didn't agree with, they would take apart."FULL POST

(CNN) – Herman Cain wouldn't answer questions Friday afternoon about a comment he made regarding Anita Hill, the law school professor whose sexual harassment allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991 made national headlines.

"I want to get back on message. That's not on message," Cain told reporters outside a fundraising event in New York City. "I want to fix this economy so people can go back to work–not continue all this attention of stuff that does not matter."FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - An independent group dedicated to helping Herman Cain win the GOP presidential nomination is up with a web video that defends the Republican presidential candidate against allegations of sexual harassment.

The web video, by a super political action committee called the "9-9-9 Fund," includes clips of conservative hosts, including Rush Limbaugh, blaming the mainstream media for attacking a black conservative like Cain. The video uses television clips of liberal pundits attacking Cain as well as the famous clip of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas calling his grilling during his confirmation hearings two decades ago "a high-tech lynching, and ends with the on-screen message, "Don't let the left do it again."FULL POST

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The black-robed figure stares straight ahead, stalwart and silent, his head nodding appreciatively. He carries a big stick, which happens to have an American flag attached. And the man proudly stands on a toy truck and a pair of pizza boxes.

Say hello to the Justice Clarence Thomas Annotated Bobblehead, about the closest thing a member of the Supreme Court gets to collectible immortality.

Washington (CNN) - A liberal reform group has asked the Justice Department to investigate allegations of conflict of interest by Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Washington-based Common Cause filed a petition Thursday with the Obama administration, urging that a controversial campaign finance reform decision be vacated because, the group says, the justices attended closed-door political gatherings sponsored by two top Republican donors and industrialists.

(CNN) – Virginia Thomas, a conservative political activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas announced she will be stepping down as head of Liberty Central, a grassroots political organization she founded a year ago, and which has links to the Tea Party Movement.

The decision was announced by the Virginia-based group's public relations firm.FULL POST